Gift (Part 1)

Xiling paused, blinked, and looked at Gu Yue beside him. "Gu Yue, you head back first. I have something to take care of."

Gu Yue did not ask further. She had just keenly sensed a trace of spiritual power, and then Xiling had decided to leave. Whatever had happened, it was likely no small matter.

She nodded lightly, her eyes smiling. "Then I'll head back first. Be careful."

After bidding Gu Yue farewell, Xiling glanced in a certain direction, and his figure vanished from the spot as well.

East Sea Spirit Pagoda, top-floor office.

Xiling sat before Leng Yaozhu, scratching his head awkwardly. "Teacher, why did you come to Eastsea City?"

"What? Has our busy man been so occupied dating some little girl that he's forgotten everything his teacher told him?" Leng Yaozhu sat behind her desk, her face turned slightly to the side. The look she gave Xiling was filled with indescribable satisfaction.

She had arrived in Eastsea City yesterday, but she had not expected that the moment she reached the Spirit Pagoda, she would learn that Xiling had once again invoked her name to have the Spirit Pagoda handle something.

After looking into it and learning what Xiling had asked them to do, she stopped them.

She wanted to see for herself.

Without the convenience and assistance brought by her name, how would he resolve this matter on his own?

If Xiling encountered any danger, she would act at once.

Yet the final result gave Leng Yaozhu an enormous surprise. Xiling's strength had completely exceeded her expectations. With the cultivation of a Soul Elder, he had managed to overpower a Soul Emperor!

That was a gap of three entire major realms! Without the boost of battle armor, that was practically impossible!

Only then did Xiling remember that Leng Yaozhu had indeed said earlier that she would come see him after some time, but he had forgotten.

Xiling gave an embarrassed dry laugh. "Teacher, wasn't I preparing a gift for you? And I believe you'll be satisfied with it."

Leng Yaozhu froze slightly at his words, a faint smile and a trace of comfort blooming between her brows.

She did not particularly care about gifts. At her level, what could she not obtain? It was enough that her disciple had such thoughtfulness.

But before Leng Yaozhu could speak, Xiling continued, "Teacher, since you're here, I'll give you this gift ahead of time."

At the same time, the void trembled faintly. Fine spatial ripples spread out from Xiling's side, and a spatial passage formed before them.

Leng Yaozhu raised her brows slightly. Her originally gentle, smiling gaze instantly gained a few traces of surprise. "A spatial passage? Where are you taking me?"

"To meet someone. I hope you won't get too emotional when you see her," Xiling replied.

"Oh?" At Xiling's words, Leng Yaozhu's curiosity was immediately piqued.

The two entered the spatial passage. Light and shadows flowed around them, and the scenery surrounding them was instantly replaced by pure white.

Even Leng Yaozhu could not help but have a deep shock flash through her eyes.

Spatial power was one of the most difficult laws in the world to control. Even Titled Douluo, or Soul Masters possessing spatial-type martial souls, might not necessarily be able to open stable spatial passages at will.

Yet Xiling was only nine years old, a three-ring Soul Elder. With a casual gesture, he could accomplish this. Such talent was truly astounding.

The other end of the spatial passage was naturally Xiling's home. He brought Leng Yaozhu before a room, stopped, then looked at her solemnly. "Teacher, prepare yourself mentally."

"When you see that person in a moment, I hope you won't blame me."

Seeing the seriousness on her disciple's face, along with the spatially isolated aura emanating from the door, Leng Yaozhu's expression immediately turned strange.

Could there be a woman behind this door? Her disciple had even sealed the room off with spatial power. Wasn't that imprisonment?

Though she thought so inwardly, Leng Yaozhu still nodded. Now she was even more curious about who was inside.

When Leng Yaozhu nodded, Xiling willed it, and the spatial power isolating the room instantly dissipated. The door opened.

There were no luxurious furnishings inside. A lingering chill that had yet to disperse hung in the air.

In the center of the room, a disheveled figure with long purplish-red hair and a weak aura suddenly entered their sight.

Not long ago, Leng Yulai had been beaten back into a severely injured state by Benares.

The instant the door opened and light poured in, Leng Yulai's barely open eyes abruptly lifted.

When she clearly saw that exquisitely beautiful figure at the door, so familiar that she had hated her for a lifetime and envied her for a lifetime—

Leng Yulai's entire body stiffened, and her pupils suddenly contracted!

The deathly silent room instantly fell into an absolute silence.

Leng Yaozhu stood at the door. Her originally gentle, smiling brows and eyes, carrying a touch of curious tenderness, completely froze the instant she saw the person inside.

All warmth around her instantly vanished.

It was Leng Yulai.

Her younger sister, who had disappeared for decades without a trace—whom she had worried over for half her life and felt guilty toward for half her life.

Seeing her again after decades, the first thing that rose in Leng Yaozhu's heart was not wariness or anger, but the bitterness and longing that had accumulated over half a lifetime.

Over the years, she had countless times recalled what happened back then, regretting that she had been dull and immature in her youth, unable to understand compromise. She had assumed that her sister had merely left in a fit of anger over that absurd misunderstanding and deliberately gone into seclusion.

She had always believed—

Leng Yulai merely hated her, avoided her, and did not wish to see her.

She had never dared to think too deeply about it, nor had she ever dared to consider the worst possibility.

"Yulai..."

Leng Yaozhu's steps trembled slightly. Her voice was hoarse with barely restrained emotion, while the complexity and guilt of their long-awaited reunion surged in her eyes.

But in the next moment, the woman inside raised her eyes.

Those eyes utterly shattered Leng Yaozhu's decades of self-consolation.

There was no youthful pride, no simple resentment. There was only darkness, madness, venomous hatred, and bloodthirsty malice that had settled over decades.

Looking at her stunned elder sister in the doorway, Leng Yulai suddenly twisted her lips into a shrill, distorted, bloodstained grin.

"Hehe... Hahaha!"

"Leng Yaozhu, after all these decades, you still wear that hypocritically kind, gentle, magnanimous face."

"What? Seeing me reduced to this state, are you very pleased with yourself? Has your lofty sense of superiority finally been satisfied?"

With every sentence, a trickle of bloody foam spilled from the corner of her lips. Her aura was in utter disarray, yet every word remained as sharp as a blade.

"Did you always think I merely ran away in anger? That I simply refused to forgive you?"

"What a pity... You guessed wrong."

Leng Yulai raised a scar-covered hand and pointed at herself, her eyes filled with the obsession and despair of someone determined to burn everything down.

"Look closely!"

"I am no longer that little girl who followed behind you and admired you!"

"I joined the Holy Spirit Cult! I am one of the Four Heavenly Kings, Dark Phoenix Douluo!"

"I am an evil Soul Master! My hands are stained with countless lives. I have crossed mountains of corpses and seas of blood, living in endless darkness!"

Those few short sentences were like thunder from the nine heavens, exploding within Leng Yaozhu's mind!

Boom!!

Leng Yaozhu's entire body shook violently, as if she had been struck by lightning. Her delicate body swayed hard, and all the gentleness, longing, and guilt on her face instantly froze and shattered completely!

That face, always composed and calm, as steady as a mountain even when facing the Federation or confronting Limit Douluo, had now turned utterly pale and bloodless.

Nothing remained in her eyes but blankness, along with extreme shock, confusion, and disbelief.

She stared blankly at the younger sister before her. Her lips trembled slightly, and even her voice had completely changed.

"What... did you say?"

"The Holy Spirit Cult... an evil Soul Master...?"

Impossible.

How could that be?